Reporting period:
Key Messages
- Notification procedures in the Single Market Transparency Directive and the Services Directive have been in place for a number of years and generally fulfil their key purpose - identifying and preventing possible regulatory barriers in the internal market at an early stage;
- High level of transparency and active involvement of all actors, including industry stakeholders, is a key principle in the notification procedures, which the Commission, supported by the Member States, continues to implement and further improve;
- The continuously high number of notifications in the framework of the Single Market Transparency Directive, reactions from both the Commission and the Member States, as well as contributions from the stakeholders clearly indicate that the preventative function of the Directive is successfully fulfilled;
- At the same time, the number of notifications in the framework of the Services Directive remains low and several Member States have not notified any requirements during the 2024 reporting period, indicating ongoing lack of attention on this area in many Member States;
- The Member States must continue improving their efforts to ensure the correct application of their notification obligations, including building sufficient capacity of their national administrations to this end.
Technical barriers and the Single Market – why do they matter?
Technical regulations enacted by individual Member States may result in barriers to the free movement of goods and information society services. This prevents the goods and information society services concerned from moving freely within the Single Market.
Regulatory barriers stemming from technical regulations can thus fragment the EU Single Market.
The notification procedures established both by the Single Market Transparency Directive and by the Services Directive are pillars of the Single Market in ensuring the free movement of goods, the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services within the EU. They facilitate the exchange of information between Member States and the European Commission and serve as a preventive tool protecting against the creation of technical barriers to trade, to the freedom to provide services and to the freedom of establishment.
Notifications under the Single Market Transparency Directive use the Technical Regulation Information System (TRIS) and those of the Services Directive are handled by the Internal Market Information System (IMI). The two systems handle around 1000 notifications on average per year in an increasingly transparent manner, contributing to the smooth functioning of the Single Market.
The Single Market Transparency Directive (EU) 2015/1535 serves to prevent regulatory barriers arising in the Single Market for products and information society services. EU Member States and other participating countries notify their draft rules in those fields to the Commission. This triggers a 3-month standstill period during which the Commission and the other countries assess the national draft rules in light of EU rules. If they identify a potential barrier to the Single Market, they can react. Any concerns they identify can then be addressed by the notifying country.
The Commission, the EU Member States and the other participating countries share information on the notification procedure under the Single Market Transparency Directive using the Technical Regulations Information System (TRIS).
1. The Single Market Transparency Directive – how does it work?
The Single Market Transparency Directive enables the Commission, EU Member States and other participating countries to react to any potential barriers to the free movement of products and the provision of information society services identified in draft national legislation notified under the Directive. Reactions can take one of the following forms:
- The Commission, the EU Member States and the other participating countries can issue “comments” to be taken into account by the country that has notified a draft rule or rules if the notified draft needs to be adjusted.
- The Commission and EU Member States can also send the notifying Member State a “detailed opinion” if a serious concern is identified. This extends the standstill period and opens a dialogue phase with the notifying country, so the potential barrier identified can be addressed effectively.
- If an EU proposal in the same area is in the pipeline, the Commission can take a decision requesting the Member State concerned to postpone adopting the national measure for 12 to 18 months, depending on the development of the Commission proposal.
Facts and figures
Number of national drafts notified to the Commission
The Single Market Transparency Directive has been effectively implemented over a considerable time, with 19 453 draft notifications since 1998.
In the 2024 reporting period (1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024), 755 draft technical regulations were notified to the Commission by EU Member States, EEA countries, Switzerland and Türkiye. Of these, Member States withdrew 40 notifications, which did not require further follow-up.
In the 2024 reporting period, 17 countries provided less than 15 notifications each, while the remaining 15 countries provided on average 43 notifications each.
Number of national drafts notified to the Commission, by sector
The sectors are organised in due account of the NACE classification of economic activities.
The sectors with most notifications in the 2024 reporting period were “Agriculture, fishing and foodstuffs”, "Construction" and "Transport" with 356 notifications out of a total of 755.
The sectors with the fewest notifications were:
- Domestic and leisure equipment
- Telecoms
- Health, medical equipment
- Mechanics
- Chemicals
All scored less than 4% of the total number of notifications.
Nevertheless, certain sectors, such as “Health, medical equipment” and “Pharmaceutical and cosmetics” are closely interrelated and could be considered together, in which case their combined contribution would amount to 13% of all notifications from the reporting period.
Number of reactions sent by the Commission to Member States
In the 2024 reporting period, the Commission issued 28 detailed opinions and 69 comments. Compared to the previous reporting period, the number of Commission reactions to the notifications received in the 2024 reporting period remained broadly in line with the previous years' trends. In comparison with the 2023 reporting period, the Commission issued a somewhat higher number of detailed opinions and a lower number of comments.
Number of reactions by Member States to draft technical regulations notified by another Member State
Most EU Member States play an active role in implementing the Single Market Transparency Directive, so notifications elicit reactions from other countries. With respect to the notifications in the 2024 reporting period, 9 Member States reacted at least 5 times to notifications, either with comments or with detailed opinions.
Number of reactions received by Member States from another Member State
During the 2024 reporting period, Member States issued 57 comments and 37 detailed opinions to notifications from other Member States. The complementary impact of the Commission and the EU Member States is an asset for the functioning of the Single Market Transparency Directive. With respect to the notifications in the 2024 reporting period, 7 Member States received 5 or more reactions from other Member States.
Contributions received from stakeholders, by notifying Member State
A broad range of stakeholders took part in implementing the Single Market Transparency Directive in the reporting period, with 424 contributions. A large proportion of these related to notifications from a limited number of countries. Specifically, 17 Member States received stakeholder contributions to 91 notifications in total, of which only 6 Member States received more than 5 contributions per notification on average.
Number of final texts notified to the Commission
Of all notifications sent in the 2024 reporting period, 262 included final texts of the notified technical regulations. This amounts to 35% of all notifications. However, it is possible that the legislative procedures have not been concluded for all notifications and that the final texts will be submitted at a later stage.
TRIS in a nutshell
The Technical Regulations Information System (TRIS) is a public database providing information on each notification procedure, updated daily. TRIS can be accessed free of charge. It enables anyone to submit their comments on specific notified drafts, so their voices can be heard and taken into account. Stakeholders can also subscribe to receive alerts of drafts notified in a given sector and/or by a given Member State or another participating country.
TRIS page had:
- 199 468 total page entries
- 116 795 notifications views
- 8447 active mailing list subscribers.
In the 2024 reporting period, the top 9 notifications viewed were:
Notification number | Subject of notification | Number of views |
---|---|---|
2023/359/ES | Fire safety regulations | 10013 |
2024/52/ES | Electronic invoices between businesses and professionals | 2576 |
2011/212/NL | Construction | 2270 |
2023/682/FR | Personal health data | 2266 |
2023/601/FR | Nutrition declaration | 1906 |
2023/510/FR | Foodstuffs containing vegetable proteins | 1887 |
2024/183/RO | Fire safety of buildings | 1399 |
2024/32/BE | Beverages containing alcohol | 1370 |
2024/188/DE | Youth media protection | 1087 |
The majority of viewed notifications came from larger Member States and concerned issues of general interest to stakeholders.
2. Notifications under the Services Directive – what are their purpose?
The purpose of notification procedures is to enhance regulatory transparency and legal certainty for service providers and to foster cooperation between the Commission and national administrations through a transparent exchange of information. The ultimate objective of notifications is to ensure efficient enforcement of the Services Directive and better compliance of new national measures with it, and to prevent the creation of unjustified barriers on the EU Single Market.
The Services Directive establishes two notification obligations relating to different new requirements that fall under its scope.
- The notification obligation under Article 15(7) relating to any new requirements listed in Article 15(2) of that Directive, affecting the freedom of establishment
- The notification obligation under Article 39(5) relating to any new or changes to existing requirements referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 16(1) and in the first sentence of Article 16(3) of that Directive, affecting the freedom to provide services
Requirements on the establishment and on the provision of services – how does the procedure work?
Member States are required to notify the above requirements in a draft or in an adopted stage using the IMI system. The Commission and the Member States may issue comments to the notifying Member State in relation to requirements notified under both Articles 15(7) and/or 39(5) of the Services Directive. These comments may include general observations or questions and requests for clarification on the notified measure’s compatibility with the Directive.
In addition, under Article 15(7) of the Services Directive, within a period of 3 months from the date of receipt of the notification, the Commission has to examine the compatibility of any new requirements with EU law and, where appropriate, adopt a decision requesting the Member State in question to refrain from adopting them or abolish them.
Facts and figures
Number of notifications in total and breakdown by Member State
- Since the IMI system’s deployment in 2008 and its extension to the Services Directive in 2014, the Commission has received and handled 1363 requirements.
- In the 2024 reporting period, Member States notified 87 requirements that required a complete assessment.
- Among all Member States, 15 Member States notified at least one requirement in the 2024 reporting period. The most active were Latvia, Hungary, Belgium, Sweden, and France.
- 12 Member States did not notify any requirement to the Commission.
Legal basis for notifications under the Services Directive
In the 2024 reporting period, among all notifications received, 40 requirements were notified under Article 15(7) of the Services Directive, 13 were notified under Article 39(5), and 34 under both legal bases.
Sectoral breakdown of notifications received
The sectors with most notifications during the 2024 reporting period were "Education & Culture", “Retail” and “Environment”.
Sectors in which fewer notifications were received were:
- Legal and Financial Services
- IT & Telecommunication Services
- Sport & Leisure
- Transport
- Health
- Social Care Services
Reactions issued to notifications received
In relation to all notifications received in the 2024 reporting period, the Commission issued 14 comments but did not issue any decisions.
Member States did not issue comments on a text notified by another Member State.